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March 18, 2011

Team Durango driver Kyle McBride takes TQ on day 2 of the Australian National Titles – winning 3 out of 4 rounds and posting the fastest time. Sticking to a modified setup from Billy Fischer, Kyle’s DNX408 is on rails right now. We’ll have more news soon as day three kicks off!

March 15, 2011

There’s now only two weeks to go in our fantastic ‘Mates Rates for March’ offer – where you and a friend (or friends!) can get together to save cash on your new Team Durango DEX410 2010 Spec, DNX408 or DEX410R kits when you buy two or more of the same kit. So if you’re looking to get set for the upcoming season, make sure to get your orders in before March expires!

Last weekend the Psycho Nitro Blast event took place in Unadilla, Georgia, USA. The indoor dirt track drew 468 entries spread over the various classes. Team Durango’s Ryan Lutz dominated the Pro Buggy class with his DNX408 against stiff competition, taking the TQ and win. Ryan also won Pro Truggy.

Ryans report:
First Qualifier was at 3:30am and I got lucky to do well. My engine was super rich and ran at 180*. I usually run at 240 – 260*. I could barely clear the big triple. However the lack of power seemed to keep me out of trouble and I took TQ for the first round.

Second Qualifier I was on TQ pace again. Unfortunately after my pitstop I think my pit guy got fuel on my pipe and it richened up really bad and around the first corner I flamed out. Took 40 seconds to get the car back to pit lane and fired again. Ended up finishing 4th for the round even with that. Would have took TQ by about 10 seconds.

Third Qualifier was at 3:30am again and I really wanted a victory. I was able to run a solid run even with 2 crashes on the first two laps. The track was brutal but I was able to get a lead and take the TQ for the round and overall. Reno was right behind me in this round! Durango Domination!

Come the A-main time I didn’t even know if I was going to be able to function on the Drivers stand with such a lack of sleep, it was about 10PM. This is such a fun race but it’s so hard especially when I traveled with 3 guys who ran in sportsman and thus I had to be there nearly every day all day. I can honestly say that I had a little luck finally on this day.

As the main got under way my car was as dialed feeling as it had been all week. I had a little early pressure from Kortz, Pettit, and Drake but they fell off and I extended my lead. I worked up to a lap and a half lead by the half way point. Then I crashed upside down and flamed out! I lost 40 seconds but was able to hang on to a 12 second lead! My goal was then to get back in my groove and get a lap on the field again. By the end of the hour long main I was within 1 second of lapping Drake for a lap on the field. So without the flameout I would have won by nearly 2 laps.

My car felt great and I could put it anywhere I wanted to. I was very pleased with the victory and TQ and can’t wait for the next event!

March 14, 2011

Craig Collinson took round 6 of the Batley Buggy Club series at Chadderton this past weekend, driving the DEX410 2010 spec buggy to a dominating victory. Craig took all four rounds of qualifying and after a couple of laps of close racing in the final Craig checked out and left the rest standing as it recorded the only 17-lapper. Craig took both 2WD and 4WD titles in the series and looks set to make a big impact in 2011.

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Jörn Neumann takes a clean sweep of the Jimmy Babcock Racing League Electric off road series race at HotRod Hobbies.

The 1st Round of the 2011 JBRL Electric Series was held at Hotrod Hobbies, California. 280 drivers turned out for the event. Team Durango drivers Hupo Hönigl and Jörn Neumann attend to participate in 2WD, 4WD and Pro 4WD Short Course. Gerd Strenge was also their to support both drivers. It was a very long day of racing with 2 Rounds of Qualifying and 1 Final. In 4WD it was a close battle between Hupo and Jörn for the TQ spot. Jörn took the TQ spot. In Pro 4WD Short Course the brand new DESC410R was the car to beat. Again Jörn took the TQ, 2nd place Hupo and 3rd Chad Bradly. In 2WD Frank Root took the TQ spot by 1 second over Jörn with the Prototype DEX210 and 3rd Mike Truhe. 4th place was teammate Hupo also with the Prototype DEX210.

All Finals were 6 minutes long. First was the 4WD final. Hupo had a very bad start. Jörn lead the final from start to finish, Hupo pushed very hard and with some very fast laps he finished 2nd after his poor start. Both with the DEX410 2010 spec.

The Pro 4WD Short Course final was up next and Jörn had a good start and built up a healthy lead of a few seconds after the first lap, because of a start crash behind him. Hupo had a close battle with Mike Truhe for the second spot. In the end Jörn take the win with the brand new DESC410R by a half lap over 2nd place Mike Truhe and 3rd Hupo Hönigl also with the DESC410R.

One of the last finals was the 2WD A-main. In the first lap Jörn overtook Frank Root after the triple jump to take first. He ran some consistent lap times to build a gap back to 2nd place. In the end Jörn took the win, 2nd place Jonny Wachter and 3rd Brian Mcduffie. Teammate Hupo finished 8th after a crash at the start. All cars running great and we are know making the trip to Phoenix for the Cactus Classic.

March 12, 2011

The weekened of 4th & 5th March 2011 saw the return of off road classes to the Scottish Indoor GP – held at Dunfermline District Radio Car Club. The event has a long history, first starting way back in 1985 with off road classes. The event dropped off-road during the early 2000’s and changed to touring cars but with a recent revival of off-road in Scotland – 2011 saw the return of off-road classes.

Martin Wallace – winner of the event back in 2002-2003 & 2004, came along to the event with his DEX410 2010 Spec and in only his second time out with the car took the TQ and overall win – taking two of the three legs of the A final.

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March 10, 2011

With the well received release of the DESC410R Short Course truck we’ve decided to listen to demand from some racers for a full-sized optional rear bumper.
When designing the DESC410R we decided to go with a minimal rear bumper to save weight and keep with the racing ethos that Team Durango are famous for – and with this optional rear bumper we’ve tried to keep the weight penalty to a minimum whilst providing the protection / looks that some users are demanding.

The lower rear rail on the bumper has mounting points for 3rd party mud flaps if you choose to fit some, and this rail is removable to reduce weight if you just want the single rail out back. The bumper weighs 41g or 49g for the full-fat bumper with lower rail attached.

March 9, 2011

Getting the gearboxes built correctly on the DESC410R/DEX410 vehicles is critical for long-life and handling the rigors of racing. The metal gears are strong but nothing can cope with the combination of a poory built drivetrain, extreme power and on-track abuse. So please take a look at this guide to help protect your drivetrain and keep you on the race track.

With the differential built and filled with oil, attach the crown gear half of the differential and fasten the screws down in a cross fashion. Back off all the screws a turn or two before repeating the cross pattern tightening again – this is to ensure the crown gear is sat fully in place and aligned correctly.

Tighten the gears in a cross pattern.

After the crown gear is attached – loosen the screws a little and tighten cross-pattern again.

Shimming the differential correctly is an important step and this is the next stage of building the perfect gearbox. The DESC410R/DEX410 come with two types of shim for this purpose, a 0.2mm which is silver in colour and a 0.1mm copper-coloured shim.Firstly you need to know how many shims will get the diff sitting correctly so press down the bearing on the moulded diff-body side so it’s fully in place as we’ll use the crown gear side of the diff to play with shim settings – this is purely because it’s much easier to remove / replace the bearings on this side whilst we find the perfect setting.

Start with one 0.2mm silver shim on the crown gear side and slide the bearing over the top. Place the diff with shims and bearings installed into the empty differential case and clamp the case tight between your fingers. Next you need to clamp the outdrives with your other hand, squeezing them inward whilst trying to ‘rock’ the diff side to side in the case.

One silver shim in position.

Test the end-float in the case by trying to shift the diff sideways.

If you can feel a slight movement then you can maybe add a 0.1mm copper coloured shim to the same side, next to the previously installed shim and try again. If on the other hand your diff is hard to install or feels to be binding then you can remove / add to find your perfect balance. The shimming in this guide is for the parts we used – your shimming could be different so be aware.

One silver shim wasn’t enough in this case, so I’ve added a second copper shim.

Silver and copper shims together were the right setting – now it’s time to position them.

Once you’ve found the setting that feels right you need to test against the input pinion gear – this will define where you need to place the shims you’ve just decided upon. Place the input shaft / pinion gear into the gearbox housing along with the diff you’ve just shimmed correctly and clamp the case halves together with the provided screws and spin the input shaft. With all shims on the crown-gear side (where you should have been test-fitting them) you might find the gears are loud and have excess friction – so next comes choosing which side you place your shims.

You want the crown gear as close to the pinion gear as you can to get a good mesh – but you don’t want it so close that the gearbox is notchy or excessively loud. With the example differential in the photos needing one of each shim, you could leave the 0.2mm silver shim on the crown gear side and place the smaller copper-coloured 0.1mm shim behind the bearing on the opposite side. This will shift the diff over by 0.1mm and effectively seperate the crown gear and pinion by the same amount. Re-assemble the gearbox and test as before to check how smooth the gears are – a slight roughness to the action is fine but if there’s still excessive noise and friction you can continue adjusting the shims to suit.

Above: In the example above, the perfect setting ended up with one silver shim on the Crown-gear side and one copper shim on the moulded side.

With the differential shimming complete the last point to look at when building your DESC410R/DEX410 is the input shaft itself. Simply tightening the CVD-shaft onto the input shaft and placing it into the gearbox housing could result in some degree of movement. You can check this by clamping the gearbox together very tightly with your fingers or screwing the halves together – then with the unassembled CVD attached to the input shaft, try to rock the shaft vertically up and down (see photo). The movement, if any, will be slight – but this is amplified inside the gearbox and will result in the teeth of the gears having an improper contact patch which will place excess strain on the gears.

Input shaft with bearings in place.

Tighten the grub screw whilst applying pressure to squeeze the two halves together.

To get the perfect setting and eliminate any play in this vital area you need to loosely join the CVD shaft to the input-shaft and place them into one half of the gearbox housing. Clamp the two metal parts together so you’re pushing the CVD and input shaft together and squeezing the bearings against the plastic divider. Carefully tighten the grub screw on the CVD part of the assembly whilst applying the pressure and test the input shaft for movement again.

Tighten the gearbox screws TIGHT to help clamp the bearings.

With an improper setting the input shaft will be able to rock up & down slightly – it’s hard to detect with the full driveshaft in place.

Adjusting the amount of pressure applied during tightening will vary the setting – when you get it right the shaft should be firmly set and free from any play. If you apply too much pressure you might find the bearings binding slightly, so try again. The perfect setting should see minimal binding of the bearings but a totally rock-steady shaft.

Your gearbox should now be ready for the track – time to build the other one the same!